Safari Magazine | May 2013 Issue | Views And Reviews

Having a killer animal photo on the cover page gives the May 2013 issue of Safari – a science magazine from India, a look of a nature oriented magazine (Is it a Chittah? or Tiger? or any other animal from Cat family? – Well read it to know it). It is the article about the species loosing their existence. We will talk more on that, a little later.

The inside cover page contains the MegaPixel photo as usual. This time it shows the magnificent view of Millau Viaduct.

The UFOs and ETs were talk of the world during a specific period of time in the twentieth century, but it is not outdated today yet. The Unidentified Flying Objects, popularly known as flying saucers (based on the shape of the vehicle) and possible existence (well, we haven’t met them yet) of Extra Terrestrials fascinates us. We hear about a lot of people claiming seen UFOs at various point of time. Their tales are convincing, though we do not have enough proofs. One of such incidents is discussed in the article named Roswell : The world’s most enduring UFO mystery. The article is embedded with some book and comics covers from the old times featuring the stories about aliens evading the Earth using their flying saucers. This 4 page article by Samarth Vyas is good read.

Israel known for its strength to protect itself from the enemies. Almost surrounded by enemies, Israel improvised it’s military strength on ground and in air to keep itself safe. Still, it faced deadly attack from an army of 10,00,000 desert locusts! Yes, locust, may seem an innocent creature at first glance, which may not seem can harm anyone. But when they come in the group of lacs and millions, it is no less deadly then any armies. It used to eat the crops in the areas spread over kilometers and make the people, animals, birds who are intended to have that food, to starve. It is one of the biggest setback for the economy also. There are so many solutions tried overcome the problem but none of them is a perfect solution! Find an article about locust and the disaster it can wreak – especially the one happened in Israel. It is 5 and a half page article with facts integrated. One thing is sure though, once a state or country face the attack from locusts, it should forewarn all its neighbors (who could be the next target) regardless of both the states or countries are on good terms or not. Because ultimately human kind and other species will be at loss from the attack.

It is said that Offense is the best defense. But in addition keeping an eye on the opponent’s activity is one of the most desire skill for armed forces of any country. That is the reason why the defense department spends a lot in the technologies for the same. The time was gone when taking an areal overview of the other country’s hot-spots was a job done by plane, satellite does it to an extent. But however, the dense and hidden places, like jungles, caves, deep valleys etc. you need something which can be stealth and keep an eye from a low altitude (of course the feature of night vision is essential). And Spy planes are definitely one of the best choices for the same. There is an article about Bombardier 5000 – the new spy plane for Indian Intelligence, which is worth a read. The article is authored by D. N. Kaushik and it is embedded with some pictures of the plane (including one showing the interior of the plane) as well.

We know that human kind made a lot of progress. The path traveled from the caves to homes, pictures to languages, wheel to vehicles, fire to petroleum, pebbles to supercomputers and many many more inventions. As we know that for the safety, creatures love to live in a group, we managed them at high levels which resulted into villages, towns and cities. Then people need to move to different places and we needed to find a way of communication. The use of various devices was (and is) popular to communicate individually or declare something for mass. Use of conch-shell, church-bells, horns was very common. In the list we must include Drums! It may found a little tough to absorb, but still in several areas of Africa, people uses Drums to communicate! Yes, there is a predefined pattern for the words/phrases to communicate (like Morse code – which uses dashes and dots – for telegraph). Read more about the same in an interesting article titled – Africa’s talking drums: More than just a musical instrument. The article is associated with some good photographs which can be considered as classic.

Have you heard about mono rail? As the name suggests it have a single rail. Of course the wagon and engine needs wheels at both the sides, so one rail is not sufficient! The solution used in the earlier version of monorails was, have a concrete road strip as the the other rail. The mono rails are again in the talks. The Fast Facts segment of this issue is also focused on the same.

There comes the cover story then – Here Today Gone Tomorrow!. It is an article about the most ill-fated creatures which are in the line of extinction and their end time is not too much far. The creatures included reference about are…

The Amur Leopard

White Bellied Heron

The Rhinoceros of Java

White Headed Langur

Iberian Lynx

Dove Of Grenada Island

The Malabar Civet

The super quiz section of this month is focused on mountains.

The Q & A Fact Finder section brings the answers for the following question:

How big is the Universe? Does it have an edge or is it infinite in extent?

How is (should it be does instead of is?) implantation of an artificial tooth carried out?

What are icebergs and how are they formed?

Why is the word “Sandwich” used for two or more slices of bread with some filling between them?

What is a fiberglass and how is it made?

What is a red giant star? Why is it called so?

Which is the most poisonous snake in the world?

Amongst the fruits commonly eaten raw, which fruit is the most nutritive?

What is the mystery in coarse Velcro strip used for fastening the straps of sports shoes, briefcases, wallets, belts, jerkins etc.?

There are gigs also.

The last cover page contains an article about pedal-powered planes. It was a tried in past option which is environment friendly as well. But is it viable and practical too? Read more inside.

Overall an issue focused on nature and technology mainly. We think it should have editorial to make even more impact. We are also keen to read about the fold-able glass in the magazine (may be in near future!), as we know that the future mobiles could have been with those kind of displays. What do you think?